Ezekiel 16:18

And tookest thy broidered garments and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. TOOKEST THY BROIDERED GARMENTS, AND COVEREDST THEM - i:e., the idols, as if an adulteress were to cover her paramours with garments which she had received from the liberality of her husband. THOU HAST SET MINE OIL - the holy anointing oil sacred to God, composed of "principal spices," such as was not to be used or even compounded by any man except the high priest, on pain of being cut off (; ). Also that used in sacrifices (Leviticus...

Here God complains that the Jews turned their abundance of all things to perverse worship: for, as a husband who indulges his wife freely supplies all her wants, so a woman who is immodest was what she has received from her husband, and bestows it on adulterers; so also the Jews were prodigal in the worship of idols, and wasted upon them the blessings which God had bestowed upon them. Ezekiel, therefore, now follows up this sentiment. He says _that they took those variegated garments_, of which we spoke yesterday, and _covered their idols_; just as if an adulteress were to clothe her paramours in the very garments which she had received from her husband’s liberality: _you have covered them_, he says. He afterwards adds, _you have offered my oil and incense_. Here he speaks more clearly, although he does not depart far from the figure, for they were accustomed to use oil in sacrifices; an...

1-58 In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose....

Verse Ezekiel 16:18. _HAST SET MINE OIL AND MINE INCENSE BEFORE THEM._] It appears that they had made use of the holy vestments, and the different kinds of offerings which belonged to the Lord, to honour their idols....

MINE OIL AND MINE INCENSE - The oil was the produce of the land, the incense received in exchange for such produce. Both were the gifts of Yahweh and belonged to Him; yet the oil Exodus 25:6; Exodus 29:40 and the incense Exodus 30:34, prepared for the service of God, were used in idol-worship. In nature worship the worshippers were especially lavish in vegetable products like incense....

EXPOSITION The section on which we now enter, with its companion picture in Ezekiel 23:1; forms the most terrible, one might almost say the most repellent, part of Ezekiel's prophetic utterances. We have, as it were, his story of the harlot's progress, his biography of the Messalina of the nations. We shudder as we read it, just as we shudder in reading the sixth satire of Juvenal. The prophet speaks, like the satirist, of things which we have learnt, mainly under the teaching of Christian purity, to veil in a reticent reserve, with a Lucretian and Dante-like vividness. The nearest parallel, indeed, which literature presents to it is found in the 'Epistola ad Florentinos' of the latter poet. We need to remember, as we read it, that his standard was not ours, that those for whom he wrote had done or witnessed the things which he describes, that there was in them no nerve of

AND TOOKEST THY BROIDERED GARMENTS, AND COVEREDST THEM,.... The images of men, the idols they worshipped; see Jeremiah 10:4; so the Papists at this day cover their idols, the images of the Virgin Mary, and other saints, with rich apparel, to draw the attention, admiration, and reverence of the people to them: AND THOU HAST SET MINE OIL AND MINE INCENSE BEFORE THEM; the oil which the Lord gave them for food, the land of Canaan being a land of oil olive; or which was to light the lamps in the temple with; or was used in sacrifice to the Lord, particularly in the meat offerings; and the incense, which was offered unto him on the altar of incense; these were set upon the altars of idols, and before them, the male images before mentioned; see Hosea 2:8....

In this very remarkable chapter, God describes his ancient people Israel under the figure of an infant which had been cast away, but which he had cared for and tended, and upon which he had lavished much love, making it the object of his choice, on which his very heart was set. Yet this specially-favored one had gone astray, and committed all manner of wickedness; but for all that, the love of God had not been withdrawn. The whole chapter is a graphic picture of the way in which Israel and Judah went after false gods, and forsook the only living and true God. Ezekiel 16:1. _Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,_ This is a very necessary command, for unless men know their disease they will not apply to the great Physician. Only he who knows that he is poor will be willing to accept of alms. It is, there

Ezekiel 16:1. This chapter consists of four sections: 1. The parable of the abandoned child. 2. Jerusalem's idolatries and moral degradation (Ezekiel 16:15). 3. The doom of Jerusalem and the promise of restoration (Ezekiel 16:35). 4. The covenant remembered (Ezekiel 16:60). The parable of the abandoned child, and what the gracious Lord did for the little one is a most beautiful demonstration of what He had done in His sovereign love and grace for Jerusalem. It must be read first with this in mind. But this sweet parable illustrates also, as few other portions in the Old Testament do, the grace which the Lord bestows upon t

All the gifts of Jehovah to her she took and bestowed on idols: her raiment (Ezekiel 16:16_; Ezekiel 16:18_), her gold and silver (Ezekiel 16:17), and her delicate fare (Ezekiel 16:19). And as if this were a small matter, she sacrificed also the children which were Jehovah's to her idols (Ezekiel 16:20)....